Contents

Announcement/Production

SS3: China was first announced on March 10th, 2013 after the release of a sign-up video. The casting for the season called for new players who had not competed before in a previous SS season. The offical cast of SS3 was released on March 12th, featuring the 16 players in SS3. However, after the first two eliminations of Cochran and Fabio, two more players debuted: Ian and Cirie, thus rounding out the cast at 18.

Twists/Changes

Debuts: Originally, SS3 was supposed to only feature sixteen contestants. However, following the eliminations of Cochran and Fabio, two new players debuted: Ian and and Cirie. Ian became a member of the Fei Long tribe, and Cirie became a member fo the Zhan Hu tribe on Day 7.

Tribe Swap: Like in SS2, this season featured a tribe swap, which occured after the first six eliminations.

Extended Jury: This season was expected to have a final 3 with a 7-person jury. However, after Jay was blindsided right before the merge and came in eleventh place, it was revealed that Jay became the first member of the jury, which explains the 8-person jury this season.

Season Summary

SS3 started out with 16 brand new castaways being split into two tribe of eight: Fei Long and Zhan Hu. At the first immunity challenge, Zhan Hu pulled out a victory, thus sending Fein Long to tribal council, where they unanimously voted out their weak link: Cochran. At the following immunity challenge, Fei Long turned things around by winning the challenge, which meant Zhan Hu had to go to tribal. At tribal council, Brandon rallied a majority together and blindsided Fabio, leaving Sandra and JT on the outs and putting the fate of the tribe in the hands of Brandon. However, the next day, everyone was shocked when two contestants debuted: Ian and Cirie. Ian joined the Fei Long tribe and Cirie joined the Zhan Hu tribe. With the two entering the game, that brought the numbers back up to 16, and the tribes were still even. At the immunity challenge, the power once again flipped when Zhan Hu won. At his first tribal council, Ian was targeted, but it was Natalie who was unanimously voted out for being the weakest one on the tribe. When Fei Long won the next challenge and Zhan Hu was forced to go to tribal council, it was evident that Sandra and JT were in serious danger of going home. However, Stephen and Jay from Fei Long played into Brandon's paranoia by convincing him that his own ally Laura was targeting him. Brandon took the bait and got Laura voted out, thus sparing Sandra and JT. The next day, both tribes learned that they would be competing for individual immunity because BOTH tribes would be going to tribal council. In the end, Jay and Sherri won immunity, thus protecting them at their respective tribal councils. At Zhan Hu's tribal, JT was voted out, leaving Sandra all alone on her tribe. At Fei Long's tribal council, Eddie became the target and was unanimously voted out for being too likable and social. Then, another twist occurred in the game: a tribe swap. Stephen, Jay, and Kat switched with Brandon, Francesca, and Cirie. And when Fei Long won the challenge, Zhan Hu had to go to tribal council. Because she had been on the outs of her old tribe, Sandra felt no remorse when she flipped on her tribe mates by aligning with the Fei Long members on her tribe, thus sealing the fate of Benry. When Zhan Hu lost another immunity challenge, it seemed as though Sherri's time was up, but in a stunning blindside, she played an idol and took out one of the biggest threats in the game: Jay. After Jay's elimination, the remaining 10 castaways merged, thus forming one tribe: Hae Da Fung. Despite lots of flipping and realigning of alliances, Brandon was voted out of the newly merged tribe, leaving only nine left in the game. Sherri and Francesca were on the outs, but they managed to flip several Fei Long members to their side, thus getting a majority of 5 to vote out Ian. But at tribal council, Ian played an idol and foiled the blindside, taking out Sherri in the process. At the final 8, the two alliances were even 4 vs 4, but when Lisa tricked Sandra into throwing her vote away on Stephen, Cirie was blindsided, thus leaving Ian and Stephen as the only two guys on a tribe full of women. However, at the next vote, Ian and Stephen created a fake message convincing Lisa and Amanda that their own ally Francesca was targeting Lisa. The plan worked out Lisa and Amanda voted with Stephen and Ian and blindsided Francesca. However, after learning that they were duped, Lisa and Amanda targeted Ian and Stephen, but it was too late, because the two guys had flipped Sandra and Kat, and convinced them to vote out Amanda for being too big of a jury threat. At the final 5, Lisa was on the outs, and she was in serious danger when she didn't win immunity. But Lisa tried rallying the women together to take out the boys. She managed to flip Kat, but in the end, Ian, Stephen, and Sandra voted out Lisa in a 3-2 vote. And after Kat failed to win the final immunity challenge, she paid the price for going against the alliance by being voted out and made the final member of the jury. At final tribal council, Stephen secured the win and title of Sole Survivor after getting 5 jury votes, which beat Sandra's 2 votes and Ian's 1 vote.